Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-06-11

hef eihf anu tnhAinH WIN ='ktza - t't1
mutes, descended from thu daia Thereon
four OF the girls took lamia, and ranged
themselves two in front and two behind US,
but the Others went away.
Snow" she said, awouldst thou see some Of
the wonders Of this place, 0 Hollyl Look
upon this great cave. Saw yc ever the likel
Yet was H. and many more like II, followed
by the hands OF the dead race that once lived
here In tho city on the plain A great and a
wonderful people must they have been, these
men Of Kor; but, like the Egyptians, they
thought moro Of tho dead than the living.
How many men, think ye, working for how
many years. did II require to hollow out this
cave and all tho galleries therefor
"Tens Of thousands answered.
"so, @ Holly. This people was on old
people before the Egyptians were A little
can read Of their inscriptions, having found
the key thorcto--and, see here, this was one
OF the last Of the caves that they dug;n and
turning 10 tho rock behind her, she motioned
the mutes TO hold up the lamps Carvcn over
tho dais was.the figure Of an old man seated
In n chair, with an ivory rod IN his hand. Il
struck mo Tint his features were exceedingly
like those OF the man who was represented as
being embalmed In the chamber where we
took our meals. Beneath the ohair--whIch
by tho way, was shaped exactly like the one
In which Ayeshu had sat 10 give Judgment
was a short inscription IN tho extraordinary
characters Of which | hayo already spoken,
but which do not remember sufficient OF TO
illustrate II looked more like Chinese writ
Ing than any other that am acquainted
with. This inscription Ayesha proceeded,
with some difficulty and hesitation, to read
aloud and translate. II ran as follows;
"In the year 1850 from the founding of tho
city OF imperial Kor was this cave Tor burial
place. completed by Tisnc, king .;s Eot, the
people thereof and their slaves having labored
thereat for three generations, TO DO tomb
for their citizens Of rank who shall como
after. May the blessing Of the heaven rest
upon their work, and make The sleep Of Tisno,
the mighty monarch, the likeness Of whose
features Is craven above, sound and happy
sleep till tho day Of awakening, and also
the sleep Of his servants, and Of those OF his
race, who, rising up after him, shall yet lay
their heads as lowln
"Thou seest, o Holly she said, ''this peo-
plo founded the city, of which tho ruins yet
cuiilSer the plain yonder, 1000 years before
this cave was finished. Yet whgl first saw
IL, 1000 years ago, WINS II oven as 1t Ia now.
Judge, therefore, how old must tho place
have beenl And now follow thou mo, and /
win show thee after what fashion this great
city fell when tho time was come for IL TO
fall;' and she led the way down TO tho center
Of tho cave, and stopped OF q spot where
round rock had been let into a sort Of large
man hole In the flooring, accurately filling 1t
just as tho iron plates I'LL the spaces In the
London pavemonts down which tho Goals are
thrown. ~Thou seest," she said. AIeil me,
what Is itfn
NAY, / know not,r answered; whereon
she crossed 10 tho left hand side OF the cave
Cooking toward the entrance, and bid the
mutes hold up tho lamps On the wall some
thingwas painted with rcd pigment In similar
characters TO those hewn beneath tho sculp-
ture OF Tisno, king Of Kor. This she pro-
ceedod TO translate to me, the pigment still
being quite fresh enough 10 show tho form Of
| the letters.
II, Junis, q priest Of tho great Temple of
Kor, write this upon the rock in tho year 40O3
from the founding OF Kor. Kor Is fallen.
No more shall the mighty feast In her halls;
| no more shall she rule the world, and her
navies 20 out 10 commerce with the world.
Kor Is fallen and her mighty works, and all
tho cities Of Kor, and oil tho harbors that she
built and the canals that she made ara
| for the wolf and tho owl and the Wild swan,
| and the barbarian who comes after. Twenty
and five moons ago did cloud settle npen
Kor. and the hrndred cities Of Kor and cut
| 1f tho cloud came pestllence that slew hnr
people, old and young, ono with another, and
| spared not. One with another they turned
| black and died-.the young and the old, the
| rich and the poor, the man and the woman,
Tho prince and the slave. The postilerce
slow and slew, and ceased not by day or ljy
right, and those who escaped FROM tho pesti-
snce were slain OF tho famine No longer
,ould tho bodies Of the children OF Kor be
preserved according to the ancient rites, be-
cause OF the number Of tho dead; therefore
we're they hurled into the great pit beneath
| Tho cave, through the hole In the cave. Then,
| at last, remnant OF this the great people,
the light OF the whole world, went down 10
| tho coast and took ship and sailed northward;
and now am ], the priest OF Junis, who write
this, tho last man left alive out OF this great
city Of mon, but whether there DO any yet
| left In the other cities know not This do L
write In misery OF heart before die, because
Kor the imperial IL no moro, and because
thero are none TO worship In her temple, and
all her palaces are empty, and her princes
and her traders and her fair women have
passed of the face OF the earth.r
Igave sigh Of astonishment, the utter
Oscillation depicted In this rude scrawl was 30
ovorpowering. It was terrible to think OF this
solitary survivor Of mighty people record
ing Its fate before BIO, too, went down into
darkness What must tho old man have felt
as, In CHASTITY, terrifying solitude, by the
light OF one lamp feebly illumining little
space of gloom, he In few, brief lines
daubed tho history of his nations death upon
the cavern WALT What subject for the
moralist, or tho painter, or, indeed, for any
| one who can Think
/ followed hor on 10 a side passage opening
out Of the main cave, then down great num-
Der Of steps and along an underground saaft
that could not have bssii less than sixty feet
beneath the surface Of the rock, and was ven
tilated by curious bearings that ran upward,
l do not know where. Suddenly tho passage
ended, and she halted, and babe the mites
hold mp the lamps, and saw such a scene as
ann not likely TO see again. We were stand
ing In an enormous pit, or rather ON the edge
Of II, for IL went down deeper--I don't know
how much--than where we were, and was
edged In with low wall OF rock SO Ear as